While midfielder Andriamirado Andrianarimanana expressed relief that his four-month ban has expired, his former club Kaizer Chiefs have appointed an all-star legal team to lead their case to overturn their transfer ban.

Back in February, Fifa dropped a bombshell as Chiefs were handed a one-year transfer ban while "Dax" was banned for four months.

His ban, which was handed down on February 9, expired yesterday. Chiefs were found to have acted improperly in the signing of Andrianarimanana, who now plays for Black Leopards, from his hometown club Fosa Juniors.

Fosa felt that the player was still in contract with their club while Chiefs saw their deal as an amateur contract and not worthy of a significant transfer fee.

The Soweto giants were ordered to pay a fine of €150,000 (R2.8 million) plus 5% interest.

Sowetan has established that Chiefs have acquired the services of legal eagle advocate Norman Arendse SC to lead their appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS).

Arendse has handled a number of high-profile international cases, including the Caster Semenya testosterone matter and Ajax Cape Town/ Tendai Ndoro eligibility case.

The appeal will be heard on September 9 in Switzerland. When contacted for comment, Arendse said: "You'll have to ask Chiefs to give you information about that.

"I am not at liberty to give you a comment."

Chiefs football manager Bobby Motaung could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Dax is now eligible to play if the Absa Premiership resumes in the coming weeks. The 29-year-old admits that the ban in some way affected his career.

"It was very difficult not being able to play. After four months now I am back and able to play and I believe I will be able to improve," Andrianarimanana said.

"It's been difficult training inside the house without using the ball."

The Madagascar international said he hopes that Chiefs can successfully overturn their appeal.

"I didn't sign for the club in Madagascar. They were not paying me but here in South Africa everything is fine. Chiefs helped me a lot and were paying for me but Fosa failed me.

"I think everything will go well for Chiefs [in terms of the CAS case]."